Shadows in the Dark
by brightweburn
Summary: A Harry Potter story set after the Great Battle. The Wizarding commmunity is still recovering from the Battle. Wounds have not closed over. The newfound calm may yet be broken-in a way that only one of two men could have thought of. To bring back the peace, Harry,Ron,Hermione and the others may have to tread a path no one has walked before...
1. Prologue

Author's Note: This is a slightly different take on what happens after the Great Battle. Enjoy!

PROLOGUE

"Well done".

Two short words. The only compliment Augustus Rookwood received from his dead master.

He collapsed, shaking. Necromancy had always been hard for him. After the battle, it was almost impossible.

"Well? Are you going to tell us what happened?"

The woman who spoke drew her hood tighter over her face, but her dark eyes were visible still.

"Patience, Bellatrix", said the man next to her.

"I need to know fast, Rodolphus. I cannot wait long."

Her eyes scanned the dungeon as she spoke.

"Silence!" rasped Rookwood. "I know what we have to do. The Dark Lord is as clever in death as in life-was, actually."

"He passed?" asked another man. His sharp nose was prominent on his dark face.

"Oh, yes. Most spirits last for one conversation. The Dark Lord stayed for two."

"Tell us what we have to do!"

Bellatrix's impatient snap was agreed to by most of the other dozen-odd people in the dark room.

"Very well. It is this- you remember that I killed a Weasley in the Battle? He has a twin? The Dark Lord knows what we can do with this twin- but it will be difficult to accomplish."

He coughed and continued."But not impossible. So here is what we have to do…."

As the eager murmurs got louder, nobody noticed the pale blond woman inhale sharply.

'I have to warn them!' was the only thought on her mind.


	2. Awakening

_**AWAKENING**_

The scream in the night was what alerted Harry that something was wrong.

He swung out of bed, grabbing his spectacles and his wand from the oak dresser at the side and ran out of the door.

Sprinting along the passageway, he saw that the rest of the household was already up and moving. He saw Ginny and raised an eyebrow.

"George", she whispered, raising a finger to her lips. "Shh. Ron's in there with him. Do you want to go in?"

He nodded the affirmative. "Go, then. But don't disturb him."

He rolled his eyes and pushed open the mahogany-wood door, and walked in. Ron sat by the side of the handsome bed, white sheets tangled. George's head was a dark silhouette against the outline of the pillow.

"You're awake", said Ron briskly, without looking in Harry's direction. "Can you get anything more out of him than I have?"

"What happened?", queried Harry softly, not wanting to disturb George.

"Can't really say, mate", Ron said. "All of us woke up when he screamed. He had a bad nightmare, I think."

Harry approached the bed. 'George?', he asked cautiously.

"Fred?" Suddenly, George spoke.

"Fred's not here right now, George. It's me, Harry. Ron's here too."

"Fred, Fred…" George whispered. After that came an indistinct murmur. Then his head fell back against the pillow and his breathing soon turned deep and regular.

"That's all he says. He calls for Fred or mutters something. 'The Darkness…' I can't hear anything more than that", Ron said. He leaned over and straightened the sheets on George's bed and strode towards the door. He paused to wait for Harry to follow.

"His wand's on the floor", Harry noted."It must have fallen. Come on."

They walked out. Ginny was waiting for them.

"I told everyone else to go back to sleep", she whispered. "You two should sleep too. You look dead on your feet."

"Yeah, okay." Harry said. He pointed with his thumb towards the door. "We'll ask him what happened when he wakes up."

They murmured their good-nights and went to their respective rooms. Ginny walked with Harry.

"Goodnight," she said softly as she reached her room. "Sleep well."

"You, too", said Harry.

She opened the door of her room and went in. Harry went on ahead. As he walked along the passage, he heard her door close with a soft snick.

He reached his room and pushed the door open. An empty cage stood on the top of his cupboard. Hedwig had not returned from her hunting excursion.

He lay down on the bed and drifted off into sleep. It had been a strange night.

Little did he know that this was one of the last good night's sleeps he would be getting for a long time.

 **Author's Note : Sorry for the delay. Enjoy! Chapter two will be up in a couple of days.**


	3. Arrivals

Harry awoke the next day to someone shaking him violently.

"Huh?" He jerked upright and rubbed at his eyes.

"Better get up quickly, mate, we're in trouble." It was Ron, who looked bleary-eyed. "It's George. He... you'd best just come down."

Harry nodded his assent and threw on clothes haphazardly. He sprinted downwards to find everyone clustered around the big round table in the centre of the room. George was seated at one side of the table, still in his nightclothes. Harry couldn't help noticing his ill expression and the bags under his eyes. A pillow had been tucked under his head.

Hermione coughed. She was sitting three spaces away from George, Ginny and Ron taking up the intervening spots. Harry collapsed into a chair as she began to speak.

"Hello, Harry. For the last hour, George has been trying to tell us what happened yesterday night.

In his dream, apparently, he saw Fred being held hostage in the underworld. A voice told him that Fred was being held like this, in stasis, halfway between life and death, and there was a way to free him. The way -"

She broke off abruptly as the doorbell rang. Everyone instantly froze except for George, who murmured something under his breath in a semiconscious state. This house was guarded by some of the strongest charms known to all of wizardkind. No one should have been able to find it unless they knew exactly what they were doing - for example, one slip in the pronunciation of the third countercharm would cause the unlucky caster to be tied in flamimg ropes and hung upside down on the nearest fencepost, while touching the doorknob incautiously would douse your hands in undiluted Bubotuber pus. Who had found their way past all these charms?

Carefully, very carefully, Hermione inched toward the door and unlocked it. Holding her wand at the ready, she caught the doorknob gently and flung open the door.

"What?" Her breath caught on that one word as she stared at their unwelcome visitor. "What are you doing here?"

Draco Malfoy staggered through the doorway and fell onto a sofa.

It had been three months since the battle ended, and that time had not been kind to Draco Malfoy. His travel coat was worn and patched, his boots were torn, he was pale and he seemed thinner than usual. He huddled, shivering, inside his unadorned black cloak and opened his mouth as Hermione slammed the door shut.

"I have... I have to tell you something. Something important."

He then promptly fainted.


End file.
